Posting this so someone else does not do what I did. Had gallbladder surgery in the spring, keyhole, recovered fine, booked a holiday for a few weeks later and bought travel insurance the same as I always do. Ticked along not thinking about it.
Ended up needing a doctor abroad for something related to the surgery site, nothing dramatic, but when I claimed the insurer asked whether I had declared the operation. I had not, because it did not occur to me it counted as "pre-existing" when I had been signed off. They refused it. Left me a few hundred out of pocket and feeling like an idiot.
Oh that is gutting, and it is such an easy trap because "recovered and signed off" feels like it should be the end of it. Sorry Keith.
#3June 29, 2026, 10:05 am This is the one that catches the most people, and it caught me nearly making the same mistake on my second trip until someone warned me.
The thing insurers care about is not whether you feel recovered, it is whether the surgery and any condition existed when you bought the policy. A recent operation almost always has to be declared, and an undeclared operation is the single most common reason a post-op travel claim gets refused, which is exactly what happened to you. It is worth saying loudly because the logic is so counterintuitive: being signed off does not remove the duty to declare it.
For anyone reading this before they travel, declare the operation and any condition when you buy the policy, in writing, and keep the confirmation. It sometimes nudges the premium up a little, and that is the price of a claim that actually pays. The whole thing is laid out in travel insurance after surgery. None of this is financial advice, just the pattern we see again and again.
Keith, it is worth checking whether they have a formal complaints process and, depending on where you are, an ombudsman scheme, in case the non-disclosure was genuinely innocent. No promises, but it can be worth a letter.
Cheers Tom, I will look into the complaint route. Mostly I just wanted the warning out there. Declare the op even when you feel completely back to normal. Lesson very much learned.
Reading this the day before I sort my own insurance, so your bad luck just saved me from the same thing. Declaring my knee surgery in writing this morning. Thank you for posting it even though it stung.
